Numerous mechanisms have been proposed or devised for use in carrying a workpiece or article from one station to another station. In many situations, it is desirable to be able to return the carrier that transports the workpiece back to the station from which it originated or back to another station along the path taken by the carrier. With regard to prior art conveying systems and methods, the return of the carrier often requires significantly more hardware and the process itself is a cumbersome one. For example, in one known method of operation, a carrier is moved along a path using a rod that rotates. Movement of the carrier results from a carrier wheel contacting the rotating rod. Basically, the path that the wheel follows on the rod is comparable to the thread path of a screw. The angle of the carrier wheel relative to the rod controls the speed of the carrier. A disadvantage, however, of this type of conveying system is the complexity associated with the return of the carrier to the starting point of the conveying system. In particular, each end of the conveying system requires some device for transporting the carriers between the forwardgoing and the return portion of the conveyor system.
To overcome this drawback relating to the return of the carrier, the present invention utilizes an endless loop around which the carrier is able to move and in which power is extracted from an endless, continuously moving belt.